Screening electronic service requests

ABSTRACT

A facility for screening service requests for requesting assistance is described. The facility receives from a user a service request that requests assistance with solving a problem associated with a system accessible to the user and includes information related to the system. The facility searches a collection of system status information for at least one entry that corresponds with the received information related to the system. Where a corresponding entry is found, the facility provides to the user an indication of the correspondence and an opportunity to cancel the service request.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The following disclosure relates generally to submitting requestselectronically, and more particularly to submitting requests in a mannerthat provides for efficient handling of electronically submittedrequests.

BACKGROUND

Organizations are increasingly implementing and relying on internalsystems that function over a wide-base infrastructure, such asintranets. When problems occur that are related to the use of suchsystems, members of the organization and other users that have access tothe systems, such as employees and customers, may typically call or senda message to a helpdesk or support center run by a support staff inorder to seek assistance. Once a user reports a problem or requestsassistance to solve a problem, a member of the support staff maygenerate a trouble ticket to log the report or request. The supportstaff then investigates the problem that is affecting the user, which isoften related to an infrastructure outage or some sort of planned orunplanned diminished service. For example, an employee attempting to usea printer connected to a network may experience difficulty whenattempting to print a document. The employee may not completelyunderstand the problem, but has enough knowledge that he or she mayprovide a general description of the problem (e.g., “the printer on thethird floor is not printing”) to an IT support staff member, who thengenerates a report. Eventually, one or more support staff members areassigned to investigate and ultimately resolve the printer problem.

While there are several different categories of helpdesk requests (e.g.,how to, request for change, break/fix, etc.), industry reports reflectthat infrastructure outages typically make up a significant percentageof total helpdesk requests (approximately eighteen percent of allhelpdesk requests). Often, where a problem is related to aninfrastructure outage or diminished service of a system or subsystem,the support staff may already have knowledge of the problem, yet have noway to convey such knowledge to others within the organization. Forexample if the problem with the networked printer described in theabove-cited example was related to a planned maintenance outage, severalemployees may be experiencing problems with one or more printers on thenetwork. Although the support staff already knows of the problem, itsmembers may be left to respond to multiple requests for assistance.Receiving large numbers of these types of service requests oftenprevents the support staff from addressing other issues and results ininefficient use of the organization's resources. Recent industry reportsestimate that each service request contact costs an organization anaverage of sixteen dollars.

While various mechanisms, such as electronic mail alert messages andpostings on intranet home pages, are available to alert users that aproblem has been acknowledged by the support staff, such alerts mayoften go unnoticed and the support staff will nonetheless receivemultiple service requests or problem reports.

It would be desirable to have a tool that notifies a user of a systemabout known problems and outages in that system at the time that theuser proceeds to report a problem that the user is experiencing orrequest some sort of assistance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a multi-layered system architecture in which the teachingsof the present invention are implemented.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of one embodiment of a system configurationin which the teachings of the present invention are implemented.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram illustrating another logical representationof a multi-layered architecture in which applications can be built inaccordance with the teachings of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of one embodiment of an applicationframework in which the teachings of the present invention may beimplemented.

FIG. 5 is a display diagram showing a web page displaying a list of auser's previously submitted service requests in one embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a display diagram showing a web page through which a user mayinput information in order to create a service request in oneembodiment.

FIG. 7 is a display diagram showing a returned service request with analert message indicating that potentially relevant system statusinformation has been identified in one embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram showing a routine for processing a servicerequest in one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

I. Introduction

A system and method for screening electronic service requests isprovided. A user submitting a request is notified if the request ispotentially related to information that is already known by thoseresponsible for addressing the request (e.g., an IT support staff).Notification of the user occurs before the request is ultimatelysubmitted to the appropriate individual or individuals. Notification ofthe user at this time enables the user to cancel the service request ifits submission would be redundant. For example, a user may wish tosubmit a service request that her voicemail is not working properly. Inorder to submit the service request, she completes an on-line servicerequest form with information about her problem. She then indicates thatshe wishes to submit the service request by selecting a “submit” buttonon her screen. Unbeknownst to the user, voicemail access at her locationis temporarily unavailable because of a routine maintenance outage.Accordingly, the user is immediately notified of the planned outage by amessage on her screen. She is then given an option to either cancel thesubmission of the service request or proceed with submitting the servicerequest.

By providing a standardized facility for submitting service requestinformation, one or more information fields of a service request may bechecked against a collection of entries that indicate the status of oneor more systems or subsystems typically available to or accessible bythe user (herein “system status entries” or “system statusinformation”). For example, the status of voicemail, printers, phonesystems, email, shared databases, printers, and other interconnectedutilities may be consistently monitored and changes in the status ofthese systems and subsystems may be recorded as they arise or becomeknown. In another example, changes in system status become known as aresult of users submitting service requests identifying a problem. Onceknown, the information pertaining to these systems and subsystems isstored forming a collection of system status entries, which are thensearched when a new service request is submitted. If, as a result of asearch or comparison, at least one relation between a service requestfield and a system status entry field is identified, the user isinformed of the relation and asked if he or she desires to proceed withthe service request. In other cases, where no relation is identified,the service request may be submitted without additional user action.

The facility for submitting request information may consist of, forexample, a web page that includes facilities to receive input data, suchas a form with fields to be filled in, pull-down menus or entriesallowing one or more of several options to be selected, buttons,sliders, or other known user interface tools for receiving user input ina web page. The facility for submitting system and subsystem statusentries and status updates may be similar to the facility for submittingrequest information, and may include one or more input fields thatmirror those for submitting request information. Such mirroring providesfor the identification of possible relations between requests and systemstatus information. In other embodiments, an independent facility forsubmitting system status entries is not utilized, as the system statusentries are generated from or consist of other pending service requests.

II. System Overview and Overall Architecture

In one embodiment, a system in which the teachings of the presentinvention are implemented can be logically structured as a multi-layeredarchitecture as shown in FIG. 1. In one embodiment, the logicalmulti-layered architecture as shown in FIG. 1 provides a platform forcommon services to support the various applications. These services mayinclude a user interface layer 110, an object manager layer 120, a datamanager layer 130, and a data exchange layer 140.

In one embodiment, the user Interface layer 110 may provide the applets,views, charts and reports, etc. associated with one or moreapplications. In one embodiment, various types of clients can besupported via the user interface layer 110. These various types ofclients may include traditional connected clients, remote clients, thinclients over an intranet, Java thin clients or non-Windows-basedoperating systems, and HTML clients over the Internet, etc.

In one embodiment, the object manager layer 120 is designed to manageone or more sets of business rules or business concepts associated withone or more applications and to provide the interface between the userinterface layer 110 and the data manager layer 130. In one embodiment,the business rules or concepts can be represented as business objects.In one embodiment, the business objects may be designed as configurablesoftware representations of the various business rules or concepts suchas accounts, contacts, opportunities, service requests, solutions, etc.

In one embodiment, the data manager layer 130 is designed to maintainlogical views of the underlying data and to allow the object manager tofunction independently of underlying data structures or tables in whichdata are stored. In one embodiment, the data manager 130 may alsoprovide certain database query functions such as generation of structurequery language (SQL) in real time to access the data. In one embodiment,the data manager 130 is designed to operate on object definitions in arepository file 160 that define the database schema. In one embodiment,the data storage services 170 provide the data storage for the datamodel associated with one or more applications.

In one embodiment, the data exchange layer is designed to handle theinteractions with one or more specific target databases and provide theinterface between the data manager layer 130 and the underlying datasources.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of one embodiment of a system configurationin which the teachings of the present invention are implemented.

In one embodiment, the multi-layered architecture allows one or moresoftware layers to reside on different machines. For example, in oneembodiment, the user interface, the object manager, and the data managercan all reside on the dedicated web clients. For other types of clientssuch as the wireless clients, in one embodiment, the object manager anddata manager can reside on a system server. It should be appreciated andunderstood by one skilled in the art that the system configuration shownin FIG. 2 is for illustrative and explanative purposes and may varydepending upon the particular implementations and applications of theteachings of the present invention.

In one embodiment, the system environment illustrated in FIG. 2 mayinclude more than one database 290. One or more subsets of the database290 can be created or replicated by a replication manager. In addition,mobile web clients can have additional remote databases (also calledlocal databases). In one embodiment, unless the remote or localdatabases associated with the mobile web clients are defined asread-only databases, these mobile web clients can create and update datalocally that will be ultimately propagated up to the primary databasewhen each mobile web client synchronizes with the system server.

In one embodiment, the database 290 is designed to store various typesof data including predefined data schema (e.g., table objects, indexobjects, etc.), repository objects (e.g., business objects andcomponents, view definitions and visibility rules, etc.), and user's orcustomer's data. In one embodiment, dedicated web clients and servercomponents, including those that operate in conjunction with the othertypes of clients, can connect directly to the database 290 and makechanges in real time. In one embodiment, mobile web clients can downloada subset of the server's data to use locally, and periodicallysynchronize with the server database through the system server to updateboth the local and the server database.

In one embodiment, various tables included in the database 290 may belogically organized into the following types: data tables, interfacetables, and repository tables, etc.

In one embodiment, data tables may be used to store user business data,administrative data, seed data, and transaction data, etc. In oneembodiment, these data tables may be populated and updated through thevarious applications and processes. In one embodiment, data tables mayinclude the base tables and the intersection tables, etc. In oneembodiment, base tables may contain columns that are defined and used bythe various applications. In one embodiment, the base tables aredesigned to provide the columns for a business component specified inthe table property of that business component. In one embodiment,intersection tables are tables that are used to implement a many-to-manyrelationship between two business components. They may also holdintersection data columns, which store information pertaining to eachassociation. In one embodiment, intersection tables provide the datastructures for association applets.

In one embodiment, interface tables are used to denormalize a group ofbase tables into a single table that external programs can interface to.In one embodiment, they may be used as a staging area for exporting andimporting of data.

In one embodiment, repository tables contain the object definitions thatspecify one or more applications regarding:

-   -   The client application configuration    -   The mapping used for importing and exporting data    -   Rules for transferring data to mobile clients

In one embodiment, the file system 295 is a network-accessible directorythat can be located on an application server. In one embodiment, thefile system 295 stores the physical files created by variousapplications, such as files created by third-party text editors, andother data that is not stored in the database 290. In one embodiment,physical files stored in the file system 295 can be compressed andstored under various naming conventions. In one embodiment, dedicatedweb clients can read and write files directly to and from the filesystem 295. In one embodiment, mobile web clients can have a local filesystem, which they synchronize with the server-based file system 290periodically. In one embodiment, other types of client such as thewireless clients and the web clients can access the file system 290 viathe system server.

In one embodiment, the enterprise server 250 is a logical grouping ofthe system servers 255 that share a common table owner or a database,point to a common gateway Server, and can be administered as a groupusing a server manager 260. In one embodiment, the connection to thegateway server can be established via TCP/IP. In one embodiment, theenterprise server 250 can be scaled effectively by deploying multiplesystem servers 255 in the enterprise server 250, thus providing a highdegree of scalability in the middle tier of applications.

In one embodiment, the server 255 runs one or multiple server programs.It handles the incoming processing requests and monitors the state ofall processes on the server. In one embodiment, server programs aredesigned and configured to perform one or more specific functions orjobs including importing and exporting data, configuring the database,executing workflow and process automation, processing to support mobileweb clients for data synchronization and replication, and enforcingbusiness rules, etc. In one embodiment, the server 255 can be an NTService (under Windows NT operating system) or a daemon (e.g., abackground shell process) under UNIX operating system. In oneembodiment, the server 255 supports both multi-process andmulti-threaded components and can operate components in batch, service,and interactive modes.

In one embodiment, the server manager 260 is configured as a utilitythat allows common control, administration and monitoring acrossdisparate programs for the servers 255 and the enterprise server 250. Inone embodiment, the server manager 260 can be used to perform thefollowing tasks: start, stop, pause, and resume servers 255, components,and tasks; monitor status and collect statistics for multiple tasks,components, and servers within an enterprise server; and configure theenterprise server, individual servers, individual components, and tasks,etc.

In one embodiment, the gateway server can be configured as a logicalentity that serves as a single entry point for accessing servers. In oneembodiment, it can be used to provide enhanced scalability, loadbalancing and high availability across the enterprise server. In oneembodiment, the gateway server may include a name server and aconnection brokering component. In one embodiment, the name server isconfigured to keep track of the parameters associated with the servers.For example, the availability and connectivity information associatedwith the servers can be stored in the name server. The variouscomponents in the system can query the name server for variousinformation regarding the servers' availability and connectivity. In aWindows NT environment, the name server can be run as a NT service. In aUNIX environment, the name server can run as a daemon process. In oneembodiment, the connection brokering component is used to perform loadbalancing function such as directing client connection requests to anappropriate server (e.g., the least-busy server).

In one embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the various types ofclients that can be supported by the system may include the followingclients: dedicated web clients, mobile web clients, web clients,wireless clients, and handheld clients, etc.

In one embodiment, dedicated web clients (also called connected clients)are connected directly to a database server for data access via a LAN orWAN connection. In one embodiment, these connected or dedicated webclients do not store data locally. These dedicated web clients can alsoaccess the file system directly. In one embodiment, the user interface,the object manager, and the data manager layers of the multi-layeredarchitecture reside on the dedicated web client.

In one embodiment, the mobile web clients are designed and configuredfor local data access and thus can have their own local database and/orlocal file system. In one embodiment, mobile web clients can interactwith other components within the system via the gateway server. Throughsynchronization, the modifications from the local database and theserver database can be exchanged. Mobile web clients are described inmore detail below.

In one embodiment, a web client runs in a standard browser format fromthe client's machine. In one embodiment, the web client can connect to asystem server 255 through a web server. In one embodiment, the systemserver 255 is designed and configured to execute business logic andaccess data from the database 290 and file system 295. In oneembodiment, the web client described herein is designed and configuredin accordance with the teachings of the present invention to operate inan interactive mode. In one embodiment, the interactive web clientframework as described herein utilizes dynamically created objectsimplemented in JavaScript on the browser side that correspond to objectson the server side. In one embodiment, these dynamically created objectson the browser side may include the current view and its correspondingapplets, the current business object and the corresponding businesscomponents, etc. The web client is described in more detail below.

In one embodiment, wireless clients are essentially thin clients enabledon wireless devices. The wireless clients can use a wireless applicationprotocol (WAP)-based user interface to communicate and exchangeinformation/data with the system server.

The system configuration illustrated in FIG. 2 is described in moredetails below with references to various structures, databases, tables,file systems, etc. as illustrating examples.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram illustrating another logical representationof a multi-layered architecture in which applications can be built inaccordance with the teachings of the present invention. Again, themulti-layered architecture as illustrated in FIG. 3 provides theconfigured platform for various common services designed to support thevarious applications. In one embodiment, these various services mayinclude presentation services logic layer 315, which corresponds to anapplet manager and user interface layer 310, application serviceslogical layer 325, which corresponds to an object manager (OM) layer 320and a data manager (DM) layer 330, and data services logical layer 345,which corresponds to a database layer 340.

In one embodiment, the presentation services 315 may be designed andconfigured to support various types of clients and may provide them withuser interface applets, views, charts, and reports, etc. As describedabove, a large variety of clients may be supported including wirelessclients, handheld clients, web clients, mobile web clients, anddedicated (connected) clients, etc.

In one embodiment, the application services 325 may include businesslogic services and database interaction services. In one embodiment,business logic services provide the class and behaviors of businessobjects and business components. In one embodiment, database interactionservices may be designed and configured to take the user interface (UI)request for data from a business component and generate the databasecommands (e.g., SQL queries, etc.) necessary to satisfy the request. Forexample, the data interaction services may be used to translate a callfor data into DBMS-specific SQL statements.

In one embodiment, data storage services 345 may be designed andconfigured to provide the data storage for the underlying data modelwhich serves as the basis of the various applications. For example, thedata model may be designed and configured to support various softwareproducts and applications including call center, sales, services, andmarketing, etc., as well as various industry vertical products andapplications such as eFinance, eInsurance, eCommunications, andeHealthcare, etc.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of one embodiment of an applicationframework in which the teachings of the present invention may beimplemented. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the application framework mayinclude various logical groupings of various types of services andvarious types of tools that can be used to design and configureparticular applications based on business needs and environments.

In one embodiment, the core services are designed and configured toprovide the framework in which the applications execute. In oneembodiment, the core services may include the following:

-   -   The enterprise server, which is the middle-tier application        server    -   The networks that link all of these pieces together    -   Facilities like event manager and data replication, which allow        sharing data between multiple installations of various        applications as well as between the various applications and        other external applications    -   The authentication and access control, the security facilities.

In one embodiment, application integration services may be designed andconfigured to allow the various applications built in accordance withthis framework to communicate with the external world. In oneembodiment, the various types of services in this logical grouping maybe designed and configured to provide for real-time, near-real-time, andbatch integration with external applications. For example, theseintegration services may be used to enable communications betweenexternal applications and the internal applications using availablemethods, technologies, and software products. In one embodiment,application integration services allow the systems or applications toshare and replicate data with other external enterprise applications.Accordingly, these services allow a particular application or system tobe both a client requesting information, and a server having informationrequested from it.

In one embodiment, business processes services are designed andconfigured to allow the client to automate business processes throughthe application. In one embodiment, these various business processservices may include the following:

-   -   Assignment of tasks through Assignment Manager    -   Enforcement of business practices through Workflow Manager    -   Reuse of custom business logic through Business Services    -   Ensuring proper product configuration and pricing through the        Product Configurator and Pricing Configurator

In one embodiment, creation of these business processes can be donethrough Run-Time tools such as Personalization Designer, WorkflowDesigner, SmartScript Designer, Assignment Administration Views, and theModel Builder, etc.

In one embodiment, integration services may be designed and configuredto provide the client with user interface and thin client support. Inone embodiment, these may include capabilities for building andmaintaining web-based applications, providing web support facilitiessuch as user Profile Management, Collaboration Services and Email andFax services, as well as advanced Smart Scripting, etc.

In one embodiment, design time tools may be designed and configured toprovide the services to customize, design, provide integration points,and maintain the application. These various tools provide one commonplace to define the application.

In one embodiment, admin services are designed and configured provideone place to monitor and administer the application environment. In oneembodiment, these services allow the user to administer the applicationeither through a graphic user interface (GUI) or from a command line,etc.

III. User Interface and Submission/Screening of Electronic ServiceRequests

FIGS. 5-8 illustrate a user interface provided by one embodiment of theelectronic service requests screening system. The terms “screen,” “webpage,” and “page” are generally used interchangeably herein. The webpages described herein may be implemented using, for example, XML(extensible markup language) or HTML (hypertext markup language) scriptsthat provide information to a user. In general, a “link” refers to anyresource locator identifying a resource on a network, such as a displaydescription provided by an organization having a site or node on thenetwork. The web pages are stored as display descriptions, graphicaluser interfaces, or other methods of depicting information on a computerscreen where the layout and information or content to be displayed onthe page is stored in a database or other storage facility. Whileaspects of the invention are described using a network environment, someor all features may be implemented within a single-computer environment.

FIG. 5 is a display diagram showing a “MY SERVICE REQUESTS” page 500displaying a list of a user's previously submitted service requests inone embodiment. From this page, the user may view previously submittedservice requests in a “MY SERVICE REQUESTS” display area 502. The usermay also select a “NEW” button 504 to create a new service request.Selection of the “NEW” button causes the display of a page from whichthe user may create a new service request, such as the “MY SERVICEREQUESTS—HELPDESK ONLINE” page 600 of FIG. 6. From the “MY SERVICEREQUESTS” page 500, the user may also select a “QUERY” button 506 tosearch for service requests that the user previously submitted.

In this embodiment, the information displayed in the “MY SERVICEREQUESTS” text area 502 includes an identification number 508 that hasbeen assigned to the submitted service request, a status 510 for thesubmitted request (e.g., open, closed, pending. etc.), a date and time512 that the service request was created, and a brief description thatsummarizes the service request 514. Additionally, a “SYSTEM STATUS”display area 516 displays information relating to the status of varioussystems available to the user. In this example, the name 518 and status520 (e.g., available, diminished, etc.) of each system is provided,along with a status icon 522 that provides a quickly viewed indicationof the status of the system. In this embodiment, each listed status namelabel 524 functions as a Uniform Resource Locator link to a page thatdisplays details about each system, including information related tovarious subsystems associated with each system.

FIG. 6 is a display diagram showing a “MY SERVICE REQUESTS—HELPDESKONLINE” page 600 through which a user may enter information in order tocreate a service request. An “SR TITLE” field 602 holds a title for theservice request that may be used to quickly identify the nature of theservice request. The “SR TYPE” 604 drop-down menu provides a list ofservice request categories from which the user may select the categorythat best corresponds to the service request type. In this example theuser has requested a problem relating to “QUOTE VALIDATION.” Otherexamples of service requests types include “Competency,” “Support,”“Facilities,” “Finance,” “Human Relations,” “IT/eBiz,” “Payroll,”“Training,” and “My Company.” One skilled in the art would recognize,however, that various other request types are possible. In thisembodiment, the information in the field “SR TYPE” 604 is used todescribe the nature of the request and not used for matching requestswith system status entries.

From the “MY SERVICE REQUESTS—HELPDESK ONLINE” page 600, the user mayalso select an item from a “SR AREA” drop-down menu 606. In thisembodiment, the particular SR area selected by the user may correspondto a particular system that may be the basis of the user's servicerequest. Example of SR areas include “Facilities,” “Finance,” “HumanResources,” “IT,” “Mfgops,” and “Payroll.” Unlike the SR types, the SRareas in this embodiment are used to match requests with system statusinformation. Similarly, information retrieved from a “SR SUB-AREA”drop-down menu 608 may be used to match service requests with subsystemstatus information. For purposes of illustration, examples of sub-areaswithin an “IT” area may include “Hardware Break/Fix,” “DesktopHardware,” “Dial-up,” “File Sharing,” “Laptop Hardware,” “LocalConnectivity,” “Net Conference,” “Net meeting,” “Password,” “Printing,”“TelephoneNoicemail,” and “Windows 2000.” Examples of sub-areas within a“Facilities” area may include “Air Conditioning,” “Doors,” “Electrical,”“Elevators,” “Furniture,” “General Exterior,” “Plumbing,” “Security,”“Appliances,” “Lighting,” “Facilities/conference,” “Moves,” “Locks,”“Recycling,” and “Refreshments.”

The following example further illustrates the use of the “SR AREA” 606and “SR SUB-AREA” 608 fields as provided in this embodiment. An employeehaving problems with the temperature of his office being too cold maycreate a service request choosing “Facilities” for both the “SR TYPE”604 and the “SR AREA” 606 fields and “Air Conditioning” for the “SR-SUBAREA” 608 field. Although not apparent from this example, it isunnecessary that each SR area or sub-area entry provided in thedrop-down menus correspond with a monitored system or subsystem. Forexample, while a service request for fixing problems with email or aservice request for repairing a broken elevator may be connected to somesort of system or subsystem, a service request for help with movingoffice furniture may not be linked with a system in this way. In such acase, the information provided in the “SR AREA” 606 and “SR SUB-AREA”608 fields may be useful for purposes such as determining the recipientof the request or describing a problem so that appropriate measures maybe taken to address the problem. The information provided by the user ina “DESCRIPTION” text area 610, in this embodiment, may also serve asimilar function. In another embodiment, however, information of thistype, like the SR area and SR sub-area information, may also be used toidentify relationships between service requests and system andsub-system status information, using, for example key term searches.

Once the user has entered information about the type of the request, theuser may select a priority for the request (e.g., “Very High,” “High,”“Medium,” “Low,” etc.). In this embodiment, the first and last name ofthe user 614 is automatically displayed on the request. In alternateembodiments, the user may be prompted to input his or her name,location, or other identifying information, such as an email address orphone number. Once the user has inputted the appropriate service requestinformation, the user may submit the service request by selecting a“SUBMIT” button 618, or cancel the service request by selecting a“CANCEL” button 620. In this embodiment, if the user has selected an“ALERT ME” checkbox 616, the service request will not be sent to thehelpdesk server until a search is conducted to identify any availablesystem or subsystem status information that may be relevant to theservice request, and the user is alerted of any such identifiedinformation.

FIG. 7 is a display diagram showing a returned service request with analert message 722 indicating that potentially relevant system statusinformation has been identified. The user submitting this servicerequest is having problems with his email, as indicated in the “SRTITLE” field 602 and the “SR DESCRIPTION” text area 610. As indicated inthe alert message 722, the local email server is unavailable, which isthe probable reason that the user's email is not functioning. The alertmessage 722 resulted from a search of available system and subsystemstatus information. In this embodiment, the search was conducted bycomparing the “SR AREA” 606 and “SR SUBAREA” 608 fields with similarfields for the system and subsystem status information. The user mayeither cancel the request by selecting the “CANCEL” button 620 or followthrough with submission of the request by selecting the “SUBMIT” button618.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram showing a routine for processing a servicerequest in one embodiment. In block 802, the routine receives anindication of a new service request submission. In block 804, theroutine retrieves SR area information from the service request. In block806, the routine retrieves SR sub-area information from the servicerequest. In block 808, the routine searches within a collection ofsystem and subsystem status information to determine if there arematches using the values retrieved from the “SR AREA” 606 and“SR-SUB-AREA” 608 fields of the service request. In one embodiment, thesearched status information consists of system and subsystem statusentries that are monitored and updated (either manually or by acomputer) as the status of various systems or subsystems changes orbecomes known. In another embodiment, the searched status informationmay consist of or include a collection of pending service requests.

In decision block 810, if a match is not found, the routine continues atblock 812, where the service request is sent to the entity assigned withresponsibility for addressing the service request (e.g., helpdesk),after which the routine ends. If a match is found in decision block 810,the routine continues at block 814, where the routine provides anindication of the match (e.g., a system alert) to the user. In oneembodiment, the indication may identify a pending service requestsubmitted by another user that shares the same fields. In anotherembodiment the indication may provide warning of a known system outage.In block 816, the routine prompts the user to, based on the indicationof the match, either submit or cancel the service request. In decisionblock 818, if the user selects to cancel the service request, theroutine ends. Else, if the user submits, the routine continues to block812, where the service request is sent to the entity assigned withresponsibility for addressing the service request (e.g., helpdesk),after which the routine ends.

IV. Conclusion

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that specific embodiments ofthe invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration,but that various modifications may be made without deviating from thespirit and scope of the invention. For example, although this detaileddescription refers to searching information by comparing specificcombinations of fields of a specific type, one skilled in the art wouldrecognize that many information types and many combinations ofinformation might be compared without departing from the scope of theinvention. To illustrate, in one embodiment, fields indicating productcategories may be compared with recall status information provided byproduct manufactures. In another embodiment, fields identifyinglocations of particular power plants may be compared with statusinformation related to the power systems that serve those power plants.Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the appendedclaims.

1. A computer implemented method comprising: submitting a request forassistance, wherein the request relates to solving a user problem, thesubmitting comprising receiving service request information, the servicerequest information identifying the user problem, the service requestinformation including area identifier corresponding to a system andsub-area identifier corresponding to a subsystem; retrieving the areaidentifier from the received service request information; retrieving thesub-area identifier from the service request information; searching acollection of system status and subsystem status information for acorrespondence with the retrieved information, the correspondenceindicating that the service request is potentially redundant; if acorrespondence indicating that the service request is potentiallyredundant is identified, providing an alert message indicating thecorrespondence and providing an opportunity to cancel the servicerequest; and if no correspondence is found or if the request is notcancelled, sending the request to at least one member of a support staffresponsible for addressing the request.
 2. The method of claim 1 whereinthe collection of system status and subsystem status informationcomprises information from at least one submitted user service request.3. The method of claim 1 wherein the collection of system status andsubsystem status information comprises a set of pending servicerequests.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the collection of systemstatus and subsystem status information is a database of periodicallyupdated system and subsystem status information.
 5. The method of claim1 wherein the alert message indicates that a related user servicerequest is currently pending.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the alertmessage indicates that a system related to the user service request isfunctioning improperly.
 7. A method in a computer comprising: screeningservice requests, comprising receiving a user service request, the userservice request requesting assistance with solving a problem associatedwith a system, the user service request including informationidentifying the system; searching a collection of system statusinformation for at least one entry that corresponds with the informationin the user service request; and if a corresponding entry is found,providing an indication of the correspondence and providing anopportunity to cancel the service request.
 8. The method of claim 7wherein the collection of system status information comprisesinformation from at least one submitted user service request.
 9. Themethod of claim 7 wherein the collection of system status informationconsists of pending service requests submitted by other users.
 10. Themethod of claim 7 wherein the collection of system status information isa database of periodically updated system information.
 11. The method ofclaim 7 wherein the indication of the correspondence is an alert messageindicating that a related service request is currently pending.
 12. Themethod of claim 7 wherein the indication of the correspondence is analert message that a system related to the service request isfunctioning improperly.
 13. The method of claims 7 further comprising,if no correspondence is found or if the request is not cancelled, therequest is sent to at least one member of a support staff responsiblefor addressing the request.
 14. A computer-readable medium containinginstructions that cause a computer system to screen service requests byperforming a method comprising: receiving service request, wherein theuser service request information comprising an indication of a basis forthe service request; searching a collection of system status informationfor at least one entry that corresponds with the indication of the basisfor the service request; and where a correspondence is found, providingto the user an indication of the correspondence and providing to theuser an opportunity to cancel the service request.
 15. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 14 wherein the computer-readablemedium is a data transmission medium transmitting a generated datasignal containing the contents. 16-19. (canceled)
 20. An apparatuscomprising: means for screening service requests, comprising means forreceiving a user service request, wherein the user service requestcomprises an indication of a basis for the user service request; meansfor searching a collection of system status information for at least oneentry that corresponds to the indication of the basis for the servicerequest; means for providing an indication of the correspondence; andmeans for providing an opportunity to cancel the service request,wherein said means for providing the indication and means for providingthe opportunity are configured to perform their respective functions ifa correspondence between the at least one entry and the indication ofthe basis for the user service request is found.
 21. The apparatus ofclaim 22 wherein the collection of system status and subsystem statusinformation comprises information from at least one submitted userservice request.
 22. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein the collection ofsystem status and subsystem status information is a database ofperiodically updated system and subsystem status information.
 23. Theapparatus of claim 22 wherein the alert message indicates that a relateduser service request is currently pending.
 24. The apparatus of claim 22wherein the alert message indicates that a system related to the userservice request is functioning improperly.